The Alpha's Forever Mate

CHAPTER: 6

Yana escorted her back out and toward the room on the other side of the foyer. "This is the house kitchen. It is better to go to the dining hall at school for meals, but if you need snacks while studying or whatever, there is usually something in here."

Although Violet still felt weird about seeing Ryan, she could not help but perk up at the promise of food. The house kitchen had several small tables and a little kitchen area. She ambled forward, her eyes on the prize. There was a large fridge with beverages in it that did not interest her; a coffee machine, a microwave, a convection oven, a sink, all that usual stuff. But there was also a large pantry cupboard and a fridge, both of which were filled with delicious treats. Well, Violet assumed they were delicious, as a lot of stuff she did not recognize, but she figured they were like friends that she hadn't met yet.

"I thought you felt sick," Yana said, sounding amused.

"Not too sick to eat," Violet told her.

Most of her new little friends were in fancy wrappings with foreign writing, so Violet picked a few things randomly and then followed Yana out.

"We are on the top floor," Yana told her, leading her toward the back of the foyer and swiping her card again.

There was some sort of noise and part of the wall slid open to reveal an elevator. Violet sighed in relief that she did not have to climb the stairs to the sixth floor and that the elevator let her enter without swiping as well, as her hands were full of snacks.

They got off the top floor and Violet followed Yana down a corridor to the left with rooms on both sides. Their room was at the very end, with their names written on shiny brass plates by the door. Violet had to swipe again to enter, so Yana went in first and then held her food for her so she could find her card.

"I hope you don't mind, I took the bed on the right side," Yana said, nodding in that direction as she sat Violet's food down on the bench in the corner.

"I don't mind," Violet said, looking around their room in awe.

It was more like an apartment than a room. A fancy apartment. It was designed to match the rest of the house--light wood, white sofa, giant TV--but they also had beds that looked comfortable, and a little study nook, each with a big screen desktop computer. When Violet peeked into the bathroom, she noticed they had a different type of shower and so much toilet paper it would last for a year and they wouldn't even need to ration it. She could not believe this was the basic package. What did one get with the fancy package? Violet wondered. Foot and body massages?

Violet did not want to eat on the white sofa, because she was clumsy and she knew she would make a mess, so she sat down on the floor beside the coffee table and started digging into some sort of crunchy chocolatey thing.

"Omigod," Violet said after one mouthful. "What is this? Can I send this home to my family? It is magically amazing." She then pulled her phone out of her pocket. She needed to message her brothers and sister about this. She had but no cell signal, though.

"You need to connect to the school Wi-Fi," Yana said, wandering over to her part of the room and starting to unpack. "There is no phone signal anywhere on the island so we cannot be traced, and thus have to use their Wi-Fi for everything."

That seemed pretty creepy and invasive, but at least it was free. Violet's phone was too old and cheap to take photos, so she could not send a picture of her food, and she had also been nervous about leaving everyone on their own at home, so she decided to Skype them. She took her selection of tasty snacks and wandered over to the computer in her study corner. She did not know what the time difference would be, but Violet knew they would be expecting to hear from her as well, so someone would be around and waiting for her to call over.

Because they had a corner room, it looked out both over the school grounds and the forest. As she waited for the computer to start up, she could see the lights on at the main school, and also a quarter moon rising over the forest. It all looked so peaceful. Violet could have even sworn she heard a wolf howl in the distance.

"Everyone seems to be heading back after the welcome ceremony," Yana said. "I am going there to catch up with some people, care to join?" she asked Violet.

Violet knew she probably should be sociable and all that, but all she wanted to do was eat and check in with her family, and then sleep. She shook her head. "No, but thanks, and also thanks for showing me around and everything."

Yana grinned at her. "This is going to be a great year. We will have so much fun together!" She gave Violet a little wave as she left.

As soon as she logged in to Skype, a call came through from her family. "You were going to call as soon as you got there!" yelled Ziva, her younger sister who was 10 yrs old. "We were worried sick!"

Violet laughed as she watched her three siblings pushing each other to get the best spot in front of the camera.

"When are you coming home?" asked Mac, her youngest brother. He was only five and missing his front teeth. "I hate Stuart, he is a bully, and does not give me chocolates."

Stuart was her older brother, only two years younger than her. He rolled his eyes at Mac.

"Well, did you brush your teeth?" Violet asked.

Mac screwed up his little face. "They did not need brushing now."

"No brushing, no chocolate. You know the rules, Mac," Violet said.

"You suck too," Mac said, climbing off the sofa, clearly done with her. "I hate you both."

"How is it?" asked Ziva. "Is everything made out of gold and candy?"

"Practically," Violet said, holding up her snacks to show them.

Mac crept back into view as they made her try each different snack and describe it to them in detail, enough for them to almost be able to taste it. As they chatted, her heart ached with homesickness but she began to feel a bit more normal. She was not able to fool Stuart though. When Ziva and Mac got bored and went off to do their stuff, Stuart narrowed his eyes at her.

"What is up with you, anyway?" he asked.

Violet shrugged. There was no way she was getting into all that. Ryan had been her best friend and their families had been close, more than just neighbors. His family was like their own. Violet's mom had always been too sick to do much, and when her dad walked out, Ryan's parents had looked after them and kept them together. Losing the Jacksons had hit them all hard, and for it to have happened so abruptly, and so horribly. There was no point bringing it all up again.

A/N: To be continued...